Egan: $250K a pretty penny to seal bridge to nowhere

The City of Ottawa wants to install pearly gates on the Prince of Wales train bridge over the Ottawa River.

Sorry, that was childish and wrong. They will not be made of pearl. They will be made of gold. How else can you spend $250,000 on a set of metal barriers?

We had a quick look at the bridge on Tuesday morning and a lovely walk it was, though probably highly illegal. Two immediate reactions to the city’s proposal: a) This is a bad idea, and b) It won’t work.

To situate things in time and place: the Prince of Wales bridge opened in 1881 and was the first railway link between Ottawa and Hull. It runs in two spans, touching land on Lemieux Island mid-river. On the Ottawa side, it begins just west of LeBreton Flats near Bayview station and the NCC bike path runs right beneath the graffitied girders. On the Hull side, it intersects with another bike path, then the rail disappears into overgrown brush.

The views from the bridge, a 1,000-metre skeleton of rusting bone, are, frankly, fantastic. I saw islands I didn’t know existed, the parliamentary precinct in new profile, the bulk of downtown Hull in favourable light, the funnel of the Chaudière Falls but, mostly, this untapped potential. It could be so much more.

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So, though there are no real guardrails and walking is on wooden, gapped planks, lots of people use the closed bridge on a regular basis.

(It is ironic, if not a little hoot, that 15 years after the last train passed by, there is sudden urgency to deal with pedestrian and public safety.)

Access, of course, is gained, rare warning signs be damned. A big chunk of a black chain-link fence has been cut on the Ottawa side, just below the overpass for the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway. On the Quebec side, there is no fence at all and, from Lemieux Island, a whole section has been ripped out.

I ran into a regular dog walker Tuesday morning. She tells me dozens of kids gather nightly on the Quebec span to make the high-scale jump into the moving water. Indeed, there appeared to be both a jump rope and a makeshift diving board on the Quebec side. And someone’s towel, drying on a line.

Dog walkers are common. There was a man fishing, another guy on a bike — these damn humans, everywhere!

It is the old story. If you don’t create a purpose for a piece of public property, people will make their own.

All of which to say, it is difficult to imagine any set of metal gates that would keep determined individuals off the bridge— there are just too many ways in. Isn’t the answer, then, to create a vibrant public realm that encourages traffic, in a safe way?

It would, obviously, make a wonderful cycling and walking path. There may even be room for little viewing areas. Look at the High Line in Manhattan, which is little more than walkways, strategic vegetation and great views of an urban jungle — but immensely popular.

In fairness to the city, which acquired the whole bridge in 2005, it is still reviewing its options. Good. Maybe it can ditch this bad one.

“It is the City’s responsibility to manage public safety in that corridor, including access and trespassing on the bridge,” reads a response from the city.

“Actions have been taken to prevent trespassing, including signage, chains and fencing in the past. A gate option is being considered amongst other options to improve public security.”

(It is an unassailable argument: public security is improved when there is no public present. As to reports of swarmings on or near the bridge, do these not occur in multiple places across the city?)

It is little wonder that Coun. Jeff Leiper — who, too weird not to mention, tweeted a selfie from New York’s High Line this week — is not amused and is encouraging public opposition.

“I believe very strongly that it is money better spent on the things Kitchissippi residents have been asking for,” he wrote in a newsletter to ward residents.

“We’ll persist with staff in trying to reverse this decision, bolstered by your notes to our offices.”

A gate is not going to work. If we have $250,000 to burn, let’s spend it on building bridges and not shutting doors, especially to exquisite opportunities.

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